Everyone comes from somewhere...

The early years

Came into the world in a hospital in the county of Wiltshire, sometime in the late 1960s. Lived there for the first two years of my life. It's perhaps unsurprising that I don't remember much about it!

Moved to Hythe, Hampshire. Joined by two sisters and a brother over the years. Got me an education at Langdown Infant and Junior schools (which have since merged and been renamed), then Noadswood Comprehensive for a bunch of 'O'-levels and finally Totton Sixth-form college for some 'A'-levels.

Nice things about Hythe:

• It's close to the New Forest (now a National Park).
• It's by the sea – I loved turning over rocks on the mudflats at low tide.
• It's got a half-mile long pier complete with electric train to catch a ferry to Southampton (aka 'Town').

University and beyond

In 1987 I went to the University of Kent in Canterbury. I escaped in 1997 after a BSc, PhD and a 3-year postdoc. Ten years is long enough for anyone. During that time I lived in Herne Bay, Whitstable, Canterbury and Faversham. Whitstable is famous for its oysters, and has a great beach for walking on and paddling about at low tide. Faversham has the Shepherd Neame brewery and is surrounded by fields of hops. Mmm hops... It was during this time that, for better or worse, I began to write my own web pages.

Nice things about Kent:

• Graduating (twice) in the cathedral is a treat.
• Canterbury has lots of pubs.
• Pick your own fruit. Strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, raspberries, apples, pears and elderberries (wild).
• I met my wife there :-)

A country-spanning career of sorts

UK, Oct 1997

Postdoc at the University of Leeds. Brilliant location and pretty good city too. Actually, we lived in Wakefield for most of the time, where we bought our first house. Easy access to the M1 (and thus the National Parks) meant that our hiking obsession really took off.

Nice things about Leeds:

• Location — we could get to four National Parks in two hours or less.... (Also quick train service to London.)
• Great city — pubs, shops, gigs you name it.
• Bradford is the place to go for a curry.

USA, Jul 2000

Postdoc at the University of Maryland, College Park. Before I applied for this job I hadn't appreciated that it was so close to Washington DC. We lived in Greenbelt for a couple of years before moving to downtown Silver Spring close to Einstein Bagels and Caribou Coffee :-)

Nice things about Maryland:

• Close to Washington DC ('The District'). This is also a negative point due to the traffic congestion and air pollution in summer (the local driving has to be experienced to be believed....).
• The weather. OK, so July and August get a bit hot and oppressive (although the thunderstorms are fun), but autumn is great and even the cold winters are often sunny.
• More pick your own fruit! I'm now converted to peaches.
• Easy drive to a fair bit of good hiking (except for the lack of views due to the number of trees...), such as Shenandoah NP.

Canada, Aug 2004

Moved into software development at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. After 10 years at UBC I moved into the so-called 'real world', still doing the software thing. Living in Kitsilano (Kits) which is a really nice area. Of course, we can see the mountains from our balcony... We're still here so I guess we like it :-)

Nice things about Vancouver:

• Mountains. Lots of mountains. Mountains = hiking.
• Coffee — this place has so many decent coffee shops! Who needs to go to Starbucks? Seriously, why does Starbucks even exist here?
• Beaches — Kits, Jericho, Locarno, Acadia, and of course, Wreck!
• Stanley Park, a little bit of wilderness in the city.
• A pretty good bus service makes it easy to get around without a car (which we still use even though we now have a car...).
• It's by the sea — walking half-a-mile out to sea at low tide is fun in the summer
• Did I mention the mountains? No? Let me say it again: MOUNTAINS! Talk about an embarrassment of riches...

Me online

• Flickr: MKandAG
• Twitter: @partridgefoot
• Instagram: @_andy_gibb_
• Wordpress, a central place to link to my other blogs (not all on Wordpress):
  • Being. Outdoors.
  • The View (not maintained)
  • Once Around the Sun, my photo-a-day project from 2011/2012
  • The Intertidal Flush expressing my enthusiasm for backpacking the Nootka Trail
• Github
• LiveTrails

Relatives online

My little brother, the Beautician.

Who am I not?

Some folks may be thinking of this person :-)